Ersilia Vaudo

Ersilia Vaudo is an astrophysicist with a three-decade career at the European Space Agency (ESA), where she is Special Adviser on Future Talents. A physics graduate of Sapienza University of Rome, she researched CMB anisotropy experiments in cosmology, received the Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship and earned an Executive Certificate from Harvard Kennedy School (2020).

From 2002 to 2006, she was Deputy Head of ESA's Washington, DC office, liaising with NASA, and sat on the Women in Aerospace US Board. In 2020, she joined Italy's Women for a New Renaissance task force, contributing proposals on research, STEM and skills. The Minister for Equal Opportunities appointed her as an expert member of the technical-scientific committee of the national Observatory on gender-equality policies. President Emmanuel Macron named her Co-Chair for Talent and Diversity within Scale-Up Europe, contributing to its June 2021 recommendations on technology, talent, deep-tech scale-ups and inclusive skills pipelines.

She curated the XXIII Triennale di Milano, Unknown Unknowns (2022–2023), co-curated A Satellite Symphonie for the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale and co-designed Artemide's Lune d'acqua (2025), winner of the Rethinking the Future award. Her books are MIRABILIS (Einaudi, 2023), translated into English, Spanish, French and Arabic, and Perché studiare fisica (non) è complesso (Mondadori Scuola, 2024).

Her honours include Commendatore of the Order of the Star of Italy (2022), Tecnovisionarie Special Europe Award (2020), EWMD's She Made a Difference (2023) and the Carla Fendi STEM Award (2024). She has featured in InspiringFifty Italy 2021, Fortune Italy's 50 Most Powerful Women 2022, Forbes 100 Italy 2024, Unstoppable Women Italy since 2022 and StartHer's 20 Femmes à suivre in French Tech.

President and Co-founder of Il Cielo Itinerante, winner of the Financial Times WE Award 2023, she brings telescopes and STEM camps to underserved communities. A TEDx speaker and essayist, she champions science for inclusion, opportunity and future-ready talent.